The CarFreeSundaySG closed roads in the heart of the City Centre provided a good training opportunity for the PowerFLIGHT and invited Ops Kookaburra trainees to do 5km Long Tempo Run training.

The participants gathered at 7:00am in front of National Art Gallery/City Hall. After a quick brief, the respective timing groups set off to run around the Padang, Shenton Way, Robinson Road, Telok Ayer Street and back to NAC for a loop of 5km.

The first two 5km sets were completed at Marathon Pace (MP) while the 3rd and 4th sets were run at Optimal Pace (OP) to condition for a fast-finish long run. . Rest interval of 1-2min with mineral water/isotonic drinks replenishment in between each 5km set.

The weather was very humid although it was cloudy for the first 3 sets of our run. Still, the respective training groups did very well to complete within their targets.

The training session was made more interesting with the concurrent family activities and a mini duathlon race happening alongside our workout.

When we completed our training session by 9:30pm, the sun’s rays were peeking down on the satisfied PowerFLIGHT and Kookaburra runners who were already done with their cool-down stretches and heading for home.

A satisfying PowerFLIGHT Tempo Interval Sunday!

The Kookaburra trainees showed up for their third group long run with Team FatBird on a Saturday evening. With 6 weeks to go before the Gold Coast Airport Marathon (GCAM), it was a trial of sorts to see where they are up to in terms of conditioning and readiness for the golden race.

The mainly Full Marathoners managed a good Marathon Pace run from Marine Cove to Marina Promontory and back for a 21km pit-stop, before extending for another 5-9km for a solid 28-30km paced run.

The weather was warm and humid in spite of the evening breeze along the coast. The Kookaburras took this opportunity to practice their fuel and hydration plans to nail down areas for improvement ahead of race day.

There were questions on how to stave off cramps, building up sufficient weekly mileage for goal timings, dressing up for cool weather running and injury prevention during the post-run debrief.

The Kookaburra trainers, many of whom will be traveling to Gold Coast themselves, provided good guidance during the run and also answering most of the trainees’ concerns.

The entire training session was wrapped up in 3hours in what was an important mid-point milestone for the Kookaburras in their preparation journey on the road to GCAM 2017.

From their progress thus far, the trainers are quietly confident that the Kookaburras are on their way to Personal Bests come 2 July.

Run Kookaburra, Run Kookaburra, Gold Your Race Will Be!

If you have yet to have to get your Marathon PB or Boston Qualifier (BQ), or simply to enjoy a cool and enjoyable overseas marathon experience, there is still time left to sign up for GCAM and join us to:

In weekend #4 of PowerFLIGHT buildup, the trainees were given a delightful treat of hills loops and repeats at the monster hills region of Mt. Faber and Labrador Park.

A brief respite was provided when we encountered thundery rain at the Labrador Hill slopes, where we have already completed the first part of the Monster Hills challenge. Although tired out by the rather steep climbs, the PowerFLIGHT tribe was in high spirits and raring to go to the next hills challenge at Mt. Faber Loop.

The focus of this weekend’s long stead-state run was to build upon the speed training of the past weeks to hone the trainees’ running economy progressively. All the participants are already running more relaxed and with better running form, which will go towards improving their running economy for better running timings at races.

The 2-3 loops of Mt. Faber’s 1.6km rolling hills provided the challenging workload of the morning, especially after the Labrador Hills segment. The PowerFLIGHT trainees gamely faced the challenge positively, completing the tough workout with nary a complaint.

As a reward for hitting the key training objectives, the PowerFLIGHTers were given a shorter route back to the ClubHouse to end the training well within regulation time.

The session’s post-run briefing emphasized on doing the necessary stretching and active recovery procedures after each training workout, and how maintaining an injury-free condition and executing recovery runs properly are so important towards the long-term running economy and race-ready condition of marathoners.

We look forward to next weekday’s Trackwork and weekend’s Trail Hills Mix as we Power On in our Flight towards marathon Personal Bests.

Program PowerFLIGHT Speed & Strength Training System

Team FatBird’s Program PowerFLIGHT Speed & Strength training started in April 2017. Runners and marathoners looking to up the ante on their speed and strength with enhanced performance are encouraged to sign up for PowerFLIGHT to benefit from structured group hills, track, intervals, high tempo training led by qualified and experienced Team FatBird marathon trainers.